Sweet potato and orange soup

Recipe and photograph – Dr Joan Ransley

Vegetable soups are a great way to introduce more vegetables into the diet. This simple to make recipe is a great introduction to soup making. It can have a garnish of toasted mixed seeds and finished with a swirl of tahini

Method

Warm the olive oil in a large pan and add the chopped onion and celery. Cook gently for three minutes until they are soft. Add the chopped sweet potato and stir around the pan until it is coated with a little oil. Add the ground coriander and cook for a minute stirring the vegetables in the saucepan to prevent them burning. Add the vegetable stock and orange juice followed by the red lentils. Bring the soup up to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the red lentils are beginning to soften and breakdown. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool slightly. Add 220 ml milk to the soup reserving 30ml to mix with the tahini. Liquidise the soup in batches.

Add enough milk to the tahini to make it pouring consistency.

Serve the soup in bowls scattered with a swirl of tahini, toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped parsley and the zest from the orange.

Alternative serving suggestion

• Butternut squash is a good substitute for sweet potatoes.
• Unsweetened plant milk such as oat, hemp or soya can be used instead of cows’ milk
•  Chop up half a red chilli and add it to the soup to give it a little heat which can be warming on a cool day.